Budding young scientist ten-year-old Nelly Brown is spending the summer with her 70-year-old grandmother in a cottage by the sea. When she finds an old chemistry set in the basement, Nelly is thrilled to discover that the experiments in the set are guaranteed to work. Equipped with bottles and beakers, test tubes and chemicals, it also has instructions for mixing up magic formulas. Each child using the set can make one wish that can come true. Nelly, who loves her grandmother more than anyone else in the world, decides to mix up a formula to make her grandmother young. When things go very wrong, Nelly calls on her cousin Ben to help reverse the effects of the formula. But will he be able to help? And can they reverse the formula in time? (Ages 7 - 10)
Rave reviews and honors for The Summer I Shrank My Grandmother:
Winner of Maud Hart Lovelace Award
Winner of the Florida Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award
“A deft blend of magic and farce . . . A lighthearted fantasy about a somewhat misguided budding scientist.” ~ Publishers Weekly
“This is an enjoyable fantasy with realistic concerns about the effects of aging balanced by the comic results of Nelly’s solution, and just a touch of real magic to spice up the story. The reading level, tone, and feeling are similar to Woodruff’s Awfully Short for the Fourth Grade . . . combining a childishly serious theme with funny results in an easy fantasy. It will appeal to the same wide audience.” ~ School Library Journal
